Thursday, October 4, 2018

From developing and executing your marketing strategy to measuring results, your plate always has a healthy heaping of responsibilities—all of which are likely served with a side of stress from time to time.If you’re nodding your head in agreement, you’re certainly not alone. A couple years ago, Workfront released itsMarketers Stress Reportrevealing that 80% of marketers feel they have too few team members and too much work. Furthermore, 1 out of 4 marketers said they were “overly stressed” or “stressed to the max.”Fast-forward to today, the stress factor still remains as marketers contend with a myriad of challenges, from lack of internal resources to adapting to the changing digital landscape. Thegoodnews, of course, is that adigital marketing agency (like TopRank Marketing) can lend a helping hand.One of the primary responsibilities of any marketing agency is to lighten your workload and alleviate some of the stress that comes with it—and do it in a way that helps drive results.When and how should you tap an agency team in? Below are a handful of scenarios were the help of an outside expert could reduce your production time and improve performance, all while reducing stress.

#1 - When you want to make the most out of an event.

Is your team preparing to host a webinar? Will you have a presence at an upcoming industry conference? Events—whether they be large or small—take plenty of time, effort, and resources to plan if you want to make a meaningful splash. And partnering with a digital marketing agency can give you expertise and bandwidth to make the most out of event marketing opportunities.From content strategy and development to crafting and executing organic and paid promotional strategies, an agency can plug in as a strategic guide early on or provide execution support before, during, or after the event.

#2 - When you’re preparing to launch a new product or service line, or content marketing campaign.

Anytime a new product, service, event, or campaign opportunity arises, it can be an exciting time for any organization, but it can also be hard to balance with your other marketing initiatives and responsibilities. But by tapping into a marketing agency, you can get support at both the strategy and execution levels.If you’ve locked down your promotion or campaign strategy, but you don’t have the internal bandwidth for creation, an agency can plug in with ateamof highly specialized individuals—from writers to designers—to get the work done. This enables you to take on a steady strategic and visionary role to guide the launch.If you need an advisor to help you develop your strategyandexecute on the final deliverables, that team can take on a consultative role from start to finish, developing a campaign strategy around your core KPIs and creating the content assets that go along with it.

#3 - When you’re working under tight deadlines.

In the marketing world, tight deadlines are nothing new. Whether a needed content asset fell through the cracks or a last-minute request was handed down from the top, you don’t need to pull all-nighters and overload your internal team. You can shift some or most of the work to a digital marketing partner that offers services across marketing disciplines. Specialized agency team members can work individually a specific need or collaborate on more complex projects.

#4 - When you want to venture into unknown territory.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, many marketers want to integrate new tactics such asinfluencer marketingor interactive content into their digital strategies. But oftentimes they feel lack the time or expertise to do so.An experienced digital marketing agency can give you the lay of the land and provide strategic guidance for how best to dip your toes into new waters. In addition, they can also design a creative strategy around your goals and market considerations, and create the final products.

#5 - When you want to use, not lose, your remaining budget.

You’ve worked hard to secure your marketing budget. But if you don’t use it all, you’ll likely lose what remains—and possibly signal to leadership that you won’t need all those dollars (or more dollars) next year. Whether you want to build a stockpile of custom images or conduct a content audit to uncover gaps and top opportunities, an experienced agency offers several options tomake the most of your marketing budgetand help you build or continue your marketing momentum.

#6 - When your results aren’t where you want them to be.

Proving the value of your marketing efforts with solid results is your ultimate goal, and perhaps one of your biggest stressors. Whether you feel there’s a hidden opportunity you need to unearth to give results a boost or you’re seeing some lackluster results in general and don’t know where to put your efforts, a marketing agency can provide an independent, third-party perspective.Fromconversion rate optimization(CRO) to reducing cost-per-lead on PPC campaigns toexpanding your search footprint, a full-service digital marketing agency can have its subject matter experts dig into the data and make actionable recommendations for optimizing your content or strengthening your tactical mix.

Boost Your Workload. Improve Performance. Reduce Stress.

Whether you need additional support for a planned initiative like making the most out of an industry event or a last-minute project with a tight deadline just popped up, don’t stress. Find a partner instead.Marketing agencies exist to provide fellow marketers with the support and guidance they need to help reduce stressandhelp drive results.Ready to reduce stress? Let us help. Take a peek at ourdigital marketing servicesand holler with questions.